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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Tax!

It's here... tax day and I wish all those who are still doing their taxes good luck. This year I used an online tax preparer for the first time, Turbo Tax, and it was sooooo easy. Did I get all the deductions possible and make the most on my return? I don't know... I just know that Turbo Tax saved me from all that reading of the tax forms which always send me on a wild goose chase for Forms, Schedules and the like. If you are looking for a quick and easy solution and don't mind paying a reasonable amount then I highly recommend Turbo Tax for all your tax needs.

Of course back when tax started in Ancient Egypy (3000 B.C.) Turbo Tax did not exist. I guess the pharaoh would walk around his kingdom and collect a deben or grain tax from the people. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank and chide the ancient Egyptians for creating this now crazy, weird, puzzling but in theory helpful system.

In honor of the tax season coming to an end I decided to delve in to the definition of tax a bit and see where all the tax I pay goes. Upon reading a little about tax I found out about the four R's; revenue, redistribution, repricing and representation. The Revenue part is for the government so that we can enjoy public services like schools and roads and also to pay our beloved politicians who preserve social order. The Redistribution part is for those who are unemployed or less fortunate than ourselves who can afford to pay taxes. Our money is distributed to them (supposedly) so that they may enjoy a partial sliver of the lives we do. The Repricing part is like a "sin tax" that is levied on things like alcohol and tobacco so that tax revenue is not depleted by the costs that these products can cause. Finally, we do not allow our government to levy these taxes on us without some sort of accountability, the Representation part.

To sum it all up I think taxes could be rad. If they were actually used for what the government tells us they are used for. I think what happens in many political elections around the world is that tax is manipulated by candidates to try to sway elections. Those with power and wealth are promised fewer taxes in return for their votes. But the problem is that those with power and wealth are then paying fewer taxes while those without pay more.